Inspiration: A Few More Things Ive Noticed Along the Road So Far

Here's a quote from the late great columnist Sydney Harris that I believe says much about the state of marriage in our culture: "Almost no one is foolish enough to imagine that they automatically deserve great success in any field of activity; yet almost everyone believes they automatically deserve success in marriage."

One of the best unexpected blessings of marriage is to count the parents of your spouse among your friends.

Certain so called "parenting experts" may be saying the right things. So why do they have to say the right things in such a very wrong way?

Three things guaranteed to bring out any "unfinished business" in a family: births, deaths and weddings.

From now on, whenever we leave on a family trip, I will choose something to be the "designated item we forgot to pack." I even have a place picked out in the garage to put it the day before we leave.

It's myth, perhaps started in the James Dean era, that teenagers have to rebel. They do have to learn how to separate from their family. This is a good thing, unless you want your kids living with you when they are thirty. But they don't have to rebel.

The decision to have a child is the decision to have your heart walking around outside of you for the rest of your life.

No matter how hard we try not to, as parents we catch ourselves saying the very things we hated hearing from our own parents and swore we would never say to our own children.

An old song seems to be the closest thing we have to a time machine. Hearing a favorite song can instantly take you back in time, place, and emotion.

No matter what I'm doing, or how very busy I think I am, I just can't resist these six words; "Daddy, will you play with me?"

Visit SecretsofGreatRelationships.com for tips and tools for creating and growing a great relationship. You can also subscribe to our f*r*e*e 10 day e-program on how to enrich your relationship today, from relationship coach and expert Jeff Herring.

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